Bruce Von Stiers
Steve Houghton is a jazz drummer who has been around for a long time. He has played with other groups and had people play with him. One of his latest albums is a tribute to both George Gershwin and Shelly Manne. The title of the album is The Manne We Love: Gershwin Revisited. This album features Steve with his Steve Houghton Quintet. It also features the Unit Two O'clock Lab Band.
The musicians in the Steve Houghton Quintet are, along with Steve, Dan Higgins, Clay Jenkins, Stefan Karlsson and Lou Fischer. The Lab Band is from the University of North Texas and is under the direction of John Riggs.
There are 15 songs on the album for over 57 minutes of music. The album was produced by Steve along with Virko Baley and Ken Hanlon. It was released on the Troppe Note / Cambria label. All of the compositions on the album were by George Gershwin and most of the arrangements were done by John Williams.
The first song on the album is called Concerto Intro. It is a brief introduction to the music on the album and sets the tone. This is followed with By Strauss. It has some great trumpet music in it. The song twirls and swirls around.
The third song is My Man's Gone Now. It begin as a slow ballad that brings forth images of a woman on the street crying her eyes out that her man isn't there any more. Then it picks up the pace some with some swing.
Clay Jenkins plays a great trumpet on Mine. Dan Higgins also does a good job on saxophone. Then there is Love Is Here To Stay which has some nice piano work from Stephan Karlsson.
Summertime has a mixed bag of instruments. It has an almost foggy street ambiance to begin with. Then it moves on, becoming an upbeat sax tune.
A later song on the album that is really good is How Long Has This Been Going On? It has great horn work by both Higgins and Jenkins.
For those who don't know about Shelly Manne, he was considered by some to be one of the people who founded the West Coast Jazz scene back in the 1950's. His drumming fit right in with the music of the people he played with like Gerry Mulligan and Chet Baker. He had a big collection of Gershwin music and even recorded a Gershwin album back in 1965.
Steve Houghton decided to put this album together as not only a tribute to Gershwin, but also to Shelly Manne after visiting Shelly's widow Flip He discovered that she had held onto Shelly's arrangements from his Gershwin album.
Other really good songs on the album are Plenty O' Nuttin' and Lady Be Good.
You might not have heard of Shelly Manne. But if you have, and liked his music, then this tribute album is a sure fit for your collection. Or if you are a Gershwin fan, this might be a new experience for you. Either way, you will enjoy this album. And with this album, Steve Houghton might just be introducing a whole new audience to the wonderful world of Gershwin and Shelly Manne.
© 2003 Bruce E Von Stiers